Copper Metal Essay

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Copper is the metal that archaeologists suggest is the first metal to be extracted by humans and therefore is a metal that is extensively used by humans. The period of time in human history that copper metal is thought to have been first discovered is the transition from the Stone Age to the age of metals, also known as the Copper Age which was from five thousand to three thousand BC. Originally copper metal was used to make ornaments, tools, weapons and cooking utensils. Copper is a soft metal so using the copper for weapons and tools was a disadvantage. Later we would discover that if a small amount of tin was added to the copper it increased the coppers hardness creating bronze, this was a huge development in the making of weapons and tools. The Egyptians used copper metal for copper pipes to convey water the Egyptians also used the copper for beads. Copper was and still is today used for cooking pots; this is because of its fantastic thermal conductivity.

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Chalcopyrite was also extracted later, with the chemical equation CuFeS2. The discovery of the extraction of these ores was thought to have been an accident but a fortunate discovery. The process requires moderately high temperatures and requires a large supply of carbon. Both of these would have been present in campfires and charcoal-fired pottery kilns, both have been used for thousands of years. The fire would have had malachite in or around it and the copper forming by accident, displaying how easy it is to extract copper. It wasn’t really a surprise when someone discovered the connection between the droplets of copper found at the bottom of a campfire and the rocks containing the copper minerals. Following this discovery the extraction process of copper has been gradually improved by the development of simple stone furnaces that can reach higher

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